Joyce Bischoff, PhD, of Children’s Department of Surgery and an affiliate member of the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston, and her lab study stem cells isolated from a common childhood tumor known as infantile hemangioma.

They hope to understand how and why these stem cells have become disrupted, such that instead of following a normal healthy pathway to become normal cells and tissue, the hemangioma stem cells form a mass of disorganized blood vessels that grows dramatically during infancy. Their research may lead to new, fast-acting and safe treatments for children with endangering hemangiomas. In addition, the research may provide fundamental insights into the behavior of human vascular stem cells, which could then be applied to tissue repair and regeneration, and specifically to build healthy vascular networks. Read more about work by Shoshana Greenberger, MD, PhD, a dermatologist in the Bischoff Lab.